this is bbc news. the headlines. labour's leadership team say they ‘would back members‘ on another brexit vote. i am there elected as the leader in order to bring greater democracy to this party. there will be a clear vote in conference, i don't know what is going to come out of that. asjeremy as jeremy corbyn asjeremy corbyn comes under pressure to back another referendum, the leader of unite, len mccluskey, says any second referendum must not include the option of staying in the eu. could the brexit talks lead to a snap election this autumn? reports that plans are being drawn up. meanwhile the brexit secretary says he won't let the eu dictate negotiations. this is a bump in the road. we will hold our nerve. we will keep our cool and will keep negotiating in good faith. i think we need to keep these negotiations going.

us media giant comcast wins a bidding war to take control of tv—broadcaster sky. shareholders are urged to accept the offer. falling for scams — reports of fraud almost double in 3 years. a bbc investigation reveals fraudsters scammed almost 50,000 older people last year — with six people over 60 falling victim every hour. and could the bbc thriller bodyguard be behind a surge in interest in counter—terrorism jobs? the metropolitan police say thousands have visited their recruitment pages in recent weeks. and coming up at half past two — the man booker prize—winning author dame hilary mantel is in conversation with rebecca jones for talking books. good afternoon.

jeremy corbyn, has confirmed the labour party would support another referendum on brexit — if his party's conference backs the idea this week. mr corbyn says he'd prefer a general election but would abide by the decision of party members. 0ur political correspondent, alex forsyth, reports from liverpool. all behind jeremy. get your copy of labour briefing. at labour's liverpool conference, there's one thing on most people's minds. there is growing demand among the rank and file for a labour to back another public vote on any brexit deal. today, the labour leader said he'd listen to party members. 0ur preference would be for general election and then we can negotiate our future relationships with europe. but let's see what comes out of conference. we're a democratic party, we're very big. it's the biggest conference we've ever had. given that, do you feel bound by what the conference decides, as the leader? well, obviously. i'm there elected as leader of this party. the government has ruled

out another election, insisting a brexit deal is possible even after its plan was rejected by the eu. i think what we need to do hold our nerve, keep our cool, continue to negotiate in good faith and really press the eu to be clearer on what their objections are. but here, unsurprisingly, they‘ re not happy leaving it to the government. behind the scenes today, delegates will agree on motions that the party will vote on later this week, deciding labour's position on another referendum, and some say it must be clear whether the party backs it or not. it's a bit of a binary choice. you can't really fudge that. we think we need a meaningful vote in parliament. failing that, we think that the prime minister needs to call a general election so we can have the debates among the deal and then it may be that we have to have a people's vote if parliament can't come to a view. but there is a warning. any vote should be about the way we leave the eu,

not reversing brexit. the referendum shouldn't be on, do you want to... do we want to go back into the european union? that shouldn't even be an option? no. because the people have already decided on that. they say they'll listen to party members, but finding a view on brexit that unites labour supporters here and across the country, well, that conundrum forjeremy corbyn. let's talk to our assistant political editor, norman smith, is at the party conferance for us in liverpool. all summer, the pressure has been building on the labour leadership to shift its position on brexit and come out in favour of another referendum and it has grown even more intense at this conference. so far, the position of the leadership is to try to dig in and maintain their position, which is to say, no, we favour a general election and then we will try and negotiate an

improved brexit steel. i'm joined by the shadow rail minister. the difficulty with that is that it's fanciful, you have no way of forcing a general election. the reality is that the prime minister has pinned her whole leadership on delivering this check is deal and it's very clear, evident this week across europe that it's not been accepted but also within her own party. the party is tearing itself apart as to how it moves forward. if she cannot deliver this boat in parliament it absolutely clear she can no longer hold that position to deliver on brexit and therefore she will have to call a general election. that is the reality of the situation. that's not the reality, tory mps, the one thing they are absolutely not going to do in that sort of situation is vote for general election and you will need them to trigger a general election. we've already got a government in office but not in power and the country cannot continue along these lines. it's

clear on every level, every department is now, things are crumbling and falling to pieces. the country knows that and they are calling for a real, cleared readership and that is wherejeremy corbyn will come in and put forward an alternative. we have set six tests at the beginning of this, but to those and we are returning to deliver those. hypothetically, if you get a general election, labour is still a pro—brexit party, you will negotiate a deal to take britain out of the eu? we had been clear we wa nt britain out of the eu? we had been clear we want to be close to our european allies, we want to work with them. we'll have no worse times with them. we'll have no worse times with regards to the market, we will have frictionless borders as we move forward as part of the customs arrangement and we will ensure eu citizens have full rights. it's a different proposition to that which the prime ministers put to eu colleagues. we heard len mccluskey said earlier, if there is another referendum, the one thing that should not be on the ballot paper is the option of staying in the eu. the

great? i think it is really clear that the primejob great? i think it is really clear that the prime job of any prime minister at this time is to bring the country together and clearly the country is so divided, it has been more polarised over the last two yea rs more polarised over the last two years as a complete failing by the prime minister, and jeremy corbyn‘s first duty will be to put those policies in place to bring the country together so we can be united in that relationship with europe. thanks very much. how much will mr corbyn‘s message go down with those labour party members gathering elsewhere in liverpool in their thousands for restriction organised by tight people'svote? let's find out. that's right, thousands have turned out here during a speech from the leader of the gmb union, and a significant intervention by them, of course, saying they would now back the idea of another referendum. the question is, will be pressure that

is being put onjeremy corbyn get him to change his mind? he said that if the labour membership voted for it he would back it but it's unclear what they would actually be asked to vote on during this conference. let's speak to some people here today, not all of them are labour members but i'm joined by mark and linda. first of all, why are you today? essentially, we are campaigning for people'svote because the government said they would have a referendum about membership of the eu that would be a clear choice between e and b. we know that a is staying in but what is b, they have set spent two years saying it's better that what we don't know. we need a referendum on the final deal, clear choice, we will respect the referendum result for what it was, it was a pre—legislation consultation to inform debate in the comments. we have yet to have that debate. we need a debate, final vote on the deal, people spoke. linda

cook, euro supporter and not a member of labour, what would you like the leadership to do? how to persuade them to back this idea?|j think persuade them to back this idea?” think the leadership needs to take note of people like mark who has given his reasons clearly as to why we need to have a second referendum. also, the number of people attending the rally has increased dramatically as people have become aware of what brexit will mean. there's a huge impact on the nhs, other institutions, which is very worrying. i'm here today to help that the labour leadership will change its stance on a second referendum. heather, youjoined the green party after the brexit vote, to try and campaign, presumably, to stop brexit? what do you say to those who say you're not listening to the original referendum result? the original referendum result numberto make the original referendum result number to make years ago, the country was lied to and that was yf out i should join a political party. we we re

out i should join a political party. we were lied to about money for the nhs, which still cuts to the heart of me, that one. now we know it is not the case, we need to have another decision. i'm a parent, it is my children's future. they're going to be most affected this. coming here today was the best thing i felt i could do for my children. though i am not a labour party voter, i fully understand, is far as ican understand, voter, i fully understand, is far as i can understand, the party strongly supports the most voluble in society. that is their stance. and if they're going to support the most vulnerable, they need to take more ofa vulnerable, they need to take more of a stand on this issue because it is the vulnerable who will lose out if we go through with brexit as it is at the moment. what you say to people like len mccluskey, who said if we have a second vote, that is fine, but staying in the eu should not be an option because people have voted to leave? the vote that we had was a pre—legislative consultation, asi was a pre—legislative consultation, as i said. what we now know is that we have got some choices to make. most people who voted to leave voted because they were told they would be

better off. it is now clear that they will be worse off. but let's see the evidence. let's make sure we have a proper decision... once you got a deal. chat once we know that what the deal is. this is not a second or third referendum, it is a decision on the deal at the end of the process, and that is what we have been promised, but make sure we had it. thank you to mark, linda and heather who have come here today along with thousands of others and they will be here for the next hour so, listening to more speeches, hoping to change the minds of the labour leadership on this issue. thank you, vicky. more from their drug afternoon. —— more from the throughout the afternoon. british man who says he is a pharmacist from birmingham has been detained in syria on suspicion of being a member of the so—called islamic state group. kurdish forces captured anwar miah in the eastern province of deir al—zour a month ago. a video of his capture has surfaced on social media. it shows mr miah saying he has lived in syria for nearly four years

and that he worked as a medic in islamic state territory. it is believed he is now being held in a prison in northern syria, guarded by us special forces. earlier our middle east correspondent quentin sommerville had this update. kurdish officials tell us they captured anwar miah about a month ago in eastern syria inside is controlled territory. he's a pharmacist from birmingham. in a video that's subsequent been posted online, he has been blindfolded in the back of pick—up truck, he is heard saying, i'm a doctor, i'm a qualified pharmacist from the uk, i studied medicine and pharmacy. it also turns out that a man with an identical name was struck off as a pharmacist in birmingham in 2014, so those numbers match. as far as the kurds are concerned this man is member of the so—called islamic state, he is now being detained in northern syria. he's being kept under guard by us special forces and we've learnt today that he's been questioned

by western intelligence services. the kurds say, though, that they now have over 500 foreign is fighters under their care, and they cannot hold and he's no ——cannot hold these men long—term and they should be returned to their countries of origin as soon as possible. directors of the british broadcaster sky have urged shareholders to accept a takeover offer of more than £30 billion from the us media giant, comcast. after a long—running battle against rupert murdoch's 21st century fox, comcast won a blind auction for sky. our business editor simonjack reports. about two minutes... it's been an epic battle between two heavyweights of the media world. in the final round, us cable giant and universal studios owner comcast delivered a knockout blow, offering £30 billion, 10% more than the disney—backed 21st century fox was prepared to pay. the prize — sky's 23 million customers across europe, ten million of them in the uk. the final bid has come in at £17.28,

which is a i7% increase on the previous offer for sky, so they certainly have. and i think for comcast, sky is a very important strategic asset. it will help them diversify outside of the us where they're seeing pressures of cord—cutting — that is consumers are less and less paying for big, expensive cable packages. so why are all these megadeals happening now? look no further than the new kids on the block, netflix and amazon. both are winning new subscribers around the world. both are pouring billions into making their own original content. in the short—term, sky customers will notice little difference. both bidders had agreed to fund loss—making sky news for at least the next ten years. putting up prices will be hard, given the red—hot competition for eyeballs. comcast may have won, but they had to pay £30 billion. the real winners this weekend are the sky shareholders, which include the family of one rupert murdoch. he may not have succeeded in buying all of sky as he once wanted, but he will not be going home empty—handed. a teenager has died after being shot in east london.

the 19—year—old was taken to hospital after the incident in walthamstow late yesterday evening — where he was pronounced dead. no—one has been arrested and police are now appealing for witnesses. the headlines on bbc news. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, and his deputy, tom watson, say they would back another brexit referendum — if that's what party members want. us media giant comcast outbids rupert murdoch's 21st century fox to buy tv broadcaster sky for more than 30 billion pounds. and fraud is on the rise. a bbc investigation finds six people over the age of 60 fall victim to a scam every hour. a woman accusing president trump's supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault has agreed to testify against him next week. lawyers for christine blasey ford say she has accepted a request to appear before

the senatejudiciary committee to be questioned about the alleged attack at a party in 1982. judge kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations. lay—bo diseko reports. arriving home accompanied by security, brett kavanaugh, seen here in the red cap, still at the centre of a storm. the conservative judge is donald trump's choice to fill the vacant seat on the supreme court. last week, that seemed almost a certainty, until allegations of sexual assault emerged in the media. christine blasey ford says he tried to rape her when they were teenagers in the 1980s — an allegation judge kavanaugh strenuously denies. but it has delayed a vote on his nomination to america's highest court. there have been days of negotiations over whether dr ford would give evidence before the senatejudiciary committee. now, it seems there may just be a breakthrough.

in a statement, her lawyers said... some republicans, including donald trump, say this is a deliberate attempt to delay and ultimately obstruct judge kavanaugh‘s confirmation. but in a time of increased scrutiny of how sexual assault allegations are dealt with, many are also trying to tread carefully. the president and i are confident that senate republicans will manage this confirmation properly, with the utmost respect for all concerned, and i believe thatjudge brett kavanaugh will soon bejustice brett kavanaugh and take his seat on the supreme court of the united states of america. dr ford may have accepted the request to appear before the senate committee,

but her lawyers are still negotiating the terms. when she gives evidence, who is in the room, and who she is questioned by, are all still issues to be agreed. lebo diseko, bbc news. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler has more. the senatejudiciary committee had been trying to get a firm answer from christine blasey ford about whether or not she was prepared to give evidence. now we have had a letterfrom her lawyer to the committee and, in it she says specifically that she is prepared to provide what she describes as first—hand knowledge of brett kava naugh‘s sexual misconduct. judge kavanaugh denies any suggestion that he is involved in sexually assaulting her some 36 years ago at a party. but she continues to make these claims and she will now do so it seems at this hearing. that is provided a number of terms and conditions are met. first, she is understood to be

concerned that brett kavanaugh gives evidence before she does. she does not want him to be in the room when she speaks. and there is also the question about who will question her. we have had suggestions from republicans that they might bring in female lawyers to do that, because of a sensitivity that there are only male republican senators on this committee. and they are concerned that they might not be seen to treat her sensitively. however, dr ford wants to be questioned only by senators. so there is still some negotiation to be done, but it does seem that she is prepared to go to the committee to speak. nonetheless, when you listen to the white house, there is some frustration, certainly they believe that this could potentially be seen as another delaying tactic, and they want to push ahead with a brett kavanaugh‘s confirmation as a supreme court justice as quickly as they possibly can. they've also been critical of the cats who they claim ——of democrats who they claim

are playing politics with all of this, and certainly there is a political element to, because brett kava naugh could potentially push the supreme court further to the right, and that's something that democrats are concerned about. but away from all the politics, this is a deeply personal issue, and everybody is aware that it needs to be handled very sensitively and carefully, particularly after criticism of a tweet by donald trump in which he questioned why christine blasey ford or her parents had not gone forward and made a complaint to the authorities some 36 years ago. publicans know that people will be watching carefully if and when this hearing finally takes place. chris buckler reporting. police in greenwich appealing for public help finding a missing woman and her son. she disappeared with

her five—year—old son. and her son. she disappeared with herfive—year—old son. it's believed they could be driving a white vauxhall corsa. an investigation by bbc radio 5 live has found that the number of elderly people reporting that they've been the victim of scamming has nearly doubled in the last three years.?|n some cases, people had lost hundreds of thousands of pounds. ? fraudsters scammed almost 49 thousand older people across the uk in the past year, equivalent to nearly six every hour. caroline davies reports. it's a crime that can happen in your own home, as simple as a convincing phone call or a few clicks on a computer. and for one group in particular, reported cases of fraud are becoming more common. the cost of personal fraud across all ages is estimated to be around £10 billion a year. figures requested in an investigation by 5 live show that nearly 119,000 people aged over 60 reported that they had been scammed and more than 1000 of those victims were over 90. some experts worry the real number of over—60s affected is far higher and that older people are particularly at risk

as they are more likely to live alone and be drawn into conversation with a fraudster. the impact can be devastating, leaving victims without savings, potentially reliant on the state to pay for their care. those who do fall victim to fraud once are often targeted again, sometimes being placed on a scammers' list of people likely to be sucked in. the financial 0mbudsman service has said that scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and told banks that they should take the evolution of fraud into account, rather than assume it is their customers who have been grossly negligent. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has launched what's iran's president, hassan rouhani has accused american—backed gulf states of supporting the attackers who carried out yesterday's assault on a military parade that left 25 dead. and iran's revolutionary guards are vowing to take "deadly and unforgettable" vengeance against the attackers. saturday's violence left 12 revolutionary guards dead. it was one of the worst attacks ever

against the elite force. president rouhani spoke as he left tehran for new york to attend the un general assembly. he says he's ready to confront the united states and its gulf arab allies. translation: to the victims fell as innocent markers. undoubtedly the islamic republic of iran does not overlook this crime. it's weird as which group the attackers belonged to and to where they are linked. -- it's clear to us. the small countries in this region are backed by america and the us is provoking them and giving them the necessary capabilities to commit this crime is. a ban on wearing the burka is to be introduced in a region of switzerland after people there voted overwhelmingly to prohibit all face—covering garments in public spaces. sixty seven percent of voters in st gallen in the north east of the country backed the ban in a local referendum.

it's the second time a part of the country has voted to restrict burkas and other full face veils. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has launched what's been described as the world's biggest universal healthcare scheme. the plan, dubbed as modicare, aims to give 500 million people, nearly half of india's population, free health insurance. but critics say the government has failed to prepare the necessary infrastructure to effectively implement the billion—pound programme. nearly 1.6 million people die every year because of lack of access to affordable health care in india. the ayushman bharat national health protection mission is meant to plug this gap with an annual health insurance of $7,100, but unlike most of the global public health schemes that cover all the citizens, india's policy will only cover advanced medical treatment costs like surgery and cancer care for 500 million of the country's poorest. while the government claims the scheme will make

265,000 beds available, for poor in government and private hospitals in the country, the question is if that is enough. what it's doing is carefully setting up infrastructure that will allow us to work towards, which is the aspiration of the scheme, to get to universal health care, which is our ambition and which is something that we need to do. in india, on average, only one doctor is present for 11,000 patients. that's 11 times more than the racial recommended ——than the ratio recommended by the world health organization. for now, india has allocated $1.5 billion for the roll—out. experts feel more investment is needed as millions rush to grab health care that has been out of their reach so far. voting has been extended in the

maldives in an election which opposition ones will not be free in fair. the president is seeking a second term in office despite concerns about his human rights record. he has looks to china. 0ne of his opponents is seen leaning towards india and the west. the maldives has a population of less than 500,000 people so you might well think, why do we care? but the country is actually at the almost fulcrum of a geopolitical battle between india on one hand and china on the other. now, traditionally, the maldives has been very much in the maldives has been very much in the orbit of india but more recently, it has tilted its focus towards china. in terms of the politics of the maldives, well,

president yameen is a hugely controversial figure. president yameen is a hugely controversialfigure. 0pposition groups have included all sorts of —— inc accused him of all thoughts of things including curtailing freedom of the press. to give you a flavour of the press. to give you a flavour of what happens in more deviant politics, in february this year the bashing maldive ‘s politics, interview, a judge said some prisoners should be released but this was declared an emergency and troops were sent to arrest the judges. there's an opposition candidate but already groups are suggesting these votes might not be free and fair. the reports already last night that opposition campaign headquarters where raided and that the eu has already stated that it is willing to place sanctions on the maldives if these elections and fair. so all eyes on the maldives and we will wait to see what happens

today. people have left their homes in california after a wildfire spread across thousands of acres and just a few hours. hundreds of firefighters are struggling to contain the fire which is burning in a role area of the state. no injury is had been reported. —— in the oral area. pictures have been released of a volcano erupting in india. it has been active since june volcano erupting in india. it has been active sincejune but hasn't caused any disruption to flight daughters. in 1883, there was an eruption in which more than 35,000 people died. an international rescue team is rushing to reach an injured indian sailor who has taken part around the world race. solo yachtsman is stranded 2000 miles of western

australia after his mask dolan must broke severe storm. —— his mast broke. it's helped a french vessel will reach him by tomorrow. millions of viewers will tune in tonight for the final instalment of the hit bbc drama the bodyguard. the programme — based around a close protection officer's relationship with a fictional home secretary — has prompted a big increase in people interested in similar work looking at the met police's website — with more than a thousand visits a week. danny shaw reports. he is top down a suicide bomber, been shot at in a car and stuffed up a government adviser. all in a day's work for a close protection officer. here's one man who should know. i have protected theresa may and it was nothing like her. the way we

operate is not quite like this character, who seems to be operating independently. so independently he's good and has an affair with the home secretary. —— he even has an affair. anyone who crosses that line would not last very long and might not last very long within the police service. the met police wants to capitalise on the popularity of the bodyguard, there's been a surge of interest injoining the bodyguard, there's been a surge of interest in joining the force, it wa nts to interest in joining the force, it wants to recruit detectors and technology experts. it is about encouraging people to have an ambition, dream big, and actually, sunday, you could be protecting the queen or the home secretary. but at some day. but you won't get that instantaneously. one feature of the programme is the large number of seniorfemale police programme is the large number of senior female police officers and detectives from black and minority ethnic groups. the reality is different, they're in